>Creative’s new Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe sound card is now listed in Europe. The card appears at €189.90 in Germany, €194.90 in Italy and 774.05 PLN in Poland, while the Chinese listing puts it at 1269 RMB. What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?autism
>>108886385>those outputsApparently nothing.
>>108886385i like filling all the slots on my motherboard :3also said motherboard doesn't have an integrated audio interface and the xonar series is well supported under loonix
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?Noise in the on-board audio ports. That's about it.
Don't care, I'm already part of the largest botnet in the world.
>>108886385>>108886390>>108886406>>108886409If most humans didn't had fridge-level IQs, Creative, Microsoft and adobe would go out of business 10 years ago.
>>108886417Does this thing even do anything aside from forwarding every operation to the CPU anyway ?
>>108886385Latency if it isn't a usb bridge in there
Discrete sound cards have some advantages for recording.Still I'd prefer an external USB audio interface over a pci-e sound card.. pic related costs 70€. Also external cards avoid feedback loops.Soundblaster used to make real great cards, though never used one in like 25y
>>108886424It has a "decoding chip" and USB-to-PCIe bridge chip. It's just a USB sound card.
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?Looks like bait for millennials and older people who grew up lusting after sound cards. Computer audio has been "solved" for many years now.
>>108886385none
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?being basedhopefully, better ADC/DAC too
Maybe I'm just stupid but I tried to record my MIDI tone generator over line in and it sounded really bad and quiet until I got a dedicated sound blaster
>>108886404It's got what looks like an optical output so that's useful for connecting to whatever shit sound system you've got at least.Although, pretty much every computer in history now has an optical output coming off the back of it anyway, so yeah. Nothing.This is just >>108886390
>>108886385Imagine not using bluetooth yet.
>>108886790Bluetooth fucking sucks, move into another room and it drops signal.
>>108886437>USB
>>108886438kek, the die must be like 2 millimeters squared if at all....
>>108886385Audiophile retardation and the fun of drivers nightmare on GNU Linux
>>108886385looks kinda cool
>>108886811I have one of those too, for playback..But for recording I use the behringer
>>108886811>>108886963>new hdmi standard gets released>have to buy a new receiver
>>108886790bluetooth audio is at the lowest bitrate possible and its converting your audio on the fly.you're clearly deaf
>>108886992Complaining about low bitrate of bluetooth shows your ignorance, it's like complaining that mpeg2 video is bad when it's been 2 decades since we've moved on. 990kbps LDAC is close to loseless, bitrate hasn't been a problem in at least a decade.
>>108886790>bluetooth>for high quality audioyou sir are a rube
>>108887009>>>durr hurr blue tooth audio (shitty compresion) is pro!>>lol wtf you rube>>DURR HURRR BLUE TOOTH AUDIO GOOD!it's time to stop, village idiot
>>108887038>>108887040Just proving my point.
>>108886981I don't use the hdmi.. I only use the amp + phono + BT + Line to pc.I should have gotten an amp instead of a receiver but this one kind of fell into my lap
>>108886385mobo/CPU manufacturers are cheap shits that threw HDAUDIO bus into trash and onboard audio in new boards is glorified usb device with all old usb audio device problems, so yeah, there is again case for discrete soundcards.
>>108886385will it get loonix drivers, i was thinking about buying an older one before but no loonix drivers
>>108886385>those outputs>guaranteed to have beyond dogshit drivers
Creative deserved to go bankrupt decades ago for what they did to Aureal and how they've essentially killed 3D audio in games through patent trolling and bankrupting competitors via lawsuits only to peddle their dogshit sound cards.
>>108886981>>have to buy a new receiverwhy?
>>108887841Cause the old one cant pass through muh 8K 120Hz or whatever
>>108887848it's backward compatible.
>>108886909>laughs in behringer um2
>>108886811Where are the ceiling speaker outputs?
>>108887917Yeah but it won't let the signal pass through to your 8K 120H TV
>>108887073>I don't use the hdmi.. I only use the amp + phono + BT + Line to pc.If you're using analog "line out" on the PC, then chances are you're not using an external/dedicated sound card, which is what this thread is about.
>>108887054>Just proving my point!!!!!!!!!!!!>i'm too deaf & rube to notice bluetooth "audio" is shit
If you have a spare HDMI port you can use HDMI audio with a respective decoder that supports HDMI audio input.USB DACs are good if you just want quality sound.The "benefit" of a discrete card used to be additional onboard processing that its DSP offered, and CL cards have decent hardware but the software is almost always garbage that never lets you tap the full potential of the DSP.If you're just a gaymer then stick with your onboard audio. It's fine for you. Get a DAC if you want a better signal-noise ratio, which only matters if you're using quality amp/speakers or headphones.
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cardsTHEY LITERALLY SAID THE REASONS IN THE VERY ARTICLE YOU STOLE THIS COPY PASTED SHIT FROM YOU MONGOLOID
>>108886542These are remarkably good quality for the price, especially when used with an external amp.
>>108891270my onboard audio doesn't have balanced output :(
>>108886807They should just invent some Bluetooth stack that works over IP on top of WiFi so it can make use of Wireless mesh networking and you get whole house coverage for free. Pairing works the same only the PC / phone, etc, provisions it with the WiFi credentials for your network.How hard can this be?
>>108886385On board audio still cannot even compare to 20+ year old sound cards
>>108886404>RCAWhat is this, 1990?
>>108891964radio corporation america site said something like 1935 for RCA appears phono before that
>>108886385It actually improves the audio quality quite a bit. I also like to use the presets for specific games in their driver software. Really makes a huge difference in genshin impact
>>108886417how do you know you are not an AI? I have this haunting suspicion we are all just AIs.
>>108891964You can do spid if and full digital on them as well as you can on an optic no difference
>>108886385>goes inside computer>doesn't clutter desk>has ports for things other than headphones>microphone processing is done off the sound core chip instead of wasting cpu cycles>equalizer stuff is also hardware processed off the sound core chip instead of wasting cpu cycles>has a dac that is as good as any external dac>has an amp that is strong enough for the vast majority of audio grade headphonesbut but electronic interference!that's why the card is shielded.
>>108892380>instead of wasting cpu cycles...lol
>>108891270If you're just a gaymer then stick with your onboard audio.From time to time, I try out my onboard audio because on paper, the specs of it are great. 120db, 32-bit, 384hz audio, etc. But I keep going back to my AE-7 because it sounds better, in everything. Especially in games. I think its impossible for motherboard vendors to truly shield onboard audio from electronic interference. They would have to design the board around the audio instead of vice versa.When the GPU starts pumping out electronic interference the audio quality of onboard tanks hard. Becomes more dull sounding, and I swear I can hear more detail with the AE-7 in games. AE-7 is crystal clear, loud, extremely detailed sound.
>>108892396its not lol. it does take a load off the cpu. yes, you can argue these things are trivial for modern cpu's, but when people are willing to pay an extra $200 for a cooling setup to overclock their cpu to be 1% faster, i think its a mute point to say having a hardware dsp is pointless.
>>108892461did you really post a screenshot of AI search results and expect me to take you seriously
>>108892380>has an amp that is strong enoughlollmao> for the vast majority of audio grade headphonesas opposed to video grade headphones
>>108892484i don't expect most people on /g/ to read in general.>>108892520the amp is powerful. there has been plethora of testing since the ae series released years ago and they have zero issues powering the most demanding headphones that costs $1,000+look, you can sit there and clutter your desk with more devices and wires, that's fine. but i am not into that. i can have my headphones plugged into its own dedicated headphone port, and my speakers plugged in at the same time. i can easily switch between two. i have a regular microphone and don't need yet another usb device plugged in. the sound quality is fantastic.i wasted money buying external dacs like fiio , schiit, and topping. never again.
>>108892543vs
>>108892557that sits inside your computer. you decide.
>>108892380>>108892461how much does it actually offload though like what are the performance numbers?
>>108892557>balanced output>>108892569>no balanced outputI rest my case
https://www.fiio.com/e10kI bought this and some https://www.edifier.com/us/p/bookshelf-speakers/r1800bt speakers and it sounds great. I had problems with my soundblaster card and linux but the dac just works.
>>108892557>those cables>RCA into a headphone amp>>108892543>>108892569>the amp is powerful>the sound quality is fantastic.>on <6W PCIe x1I'm so sorry anon, I shouldn't have replied, bless your heart
>>108892543>i don't expect most people on /g/ to read in general.you're just regurgitating bullshit you can't even be bothered to actually look up yourself you stupid faggot>muh cpu cyclesdo you even understand how any of this works? do you know what a DAC is? even disregarding that soundcards are obsolete in 99.9% of use cases, "wasting CPU cycles" is literally not even a single reason anyone has to use one today
>>108886385You must be deaf or something.
Does it have raytracing but with sound?
>>108892680>>108892658i understand you two are slow, and i can't hold it against you, since you were born this way. but maybe one day you will learn to not be slow and understand that a dac that goes inside your computer, can indeed, not be bad. you do not need to clutter your desk with spaghetti to get good quality sound.>>on <6W PCIe x1again, i know you are slow, and i don't expect you to believe anything that isn't your biased opinion, but a dac, that goes inside your computer, can indeed, have an amp, powerful enough, to drive powerful headphones.
>>108892714curse vishnu
>>108892714>drive powerful headphones>from <6W>DT770 that are 32+ ohmsanon I had similar setup 15 years ago with the same DT770 and a full size PCIex16 sound card and when I added an amp to that I was amazed by how much better the sound quality wasif you choose to stop being retarded at any point, anon, then FYI headphone amping was solved long time ago, with dedicated headphone DAC amps
>>108892756>>108892714FYI the headphone "end game" is Beyerdynamic T1 + their own balanced cable for it + FiiO K9 or any similar headphone DACit doesn't get better than that without going to audiophile lunatic brandsfull digital 96khz input into a balanced line to cans eliminates all possible EMP noise, so there's no need for finger thick RCA cables and windows switches output to DAC as soon as you turn it on, so it's top convenience
>>108892380>has ports for things other than headphonesexcept for>XLR mic port>1/4" jack for guitaralso no>hardware knobs
>>108892714>xhe is a headphoneletLMAOOOOOOOOOOOO
i think there are some old but still functional gigabyte motherboads without audio at all, think like haswell era or maybe slightly before/later
>>108887236No reason to believe this isn't USB as well. Otherwise they'd need to make an actual custom PCIe audio chip for the modern day.I know ASUS at least used to make so-called discrete sound cards that were just an USB bridge chip and a (usually C-Media) USB audio chip slapped onto a PCIe card.
>>108893427Actually looking into, yes. This is also the exact same design of an USB bridge on a PCIe card.
Why are people making fun of this, seems useful for someone like me starting a streaming career and doesn't want audio fucking up because some cheap motherboard crap during streaming to twitch or kik
>>108886385We're stuck with a generation of expensive motherboards with a lack of audio ports. So yes, there is a use case.
>>108886438I miss the awe64 and midi soundfonts
>>108886519The 14th gen intel CPUs use this to scrub inerference from motherboard designs"These chips use GNA 3.0 (Gaussian & Neural Accelerator). This dedicated co-processor handles low-power speech and neural audio processing without overloading your CPU cores"
>>108892575It offloads enough that DPC latency doesn't go to shit and you no longer get audio stuttering or your speakers making noise when you have a high core count CPU. Normies might not notice but if you've got a threadripper or something not having a soundcard is like unusable.
>>108893484>or your speakers making noise *with mouse movementidk how i missed these words
>>108886385I literally just dug my sound blaster x-fi platinum out of my old tech pile. I wanna plug 1/4 headphones into the front panel audio jack like you wouldnt believe. IIRC some part of the hardware died or was giving me grief back in the day. Maybe I can plug my guitar in and use some pc apps to help practice idk.
>>108891964RCA is le premium connector, I'd pick it over 3.5mm any time.
I love audio and av1 threads, they’re like concentrated autismit’s like schoolchildren having a full-on war about which skittle is the best
>>108886876they're gonna have to add 30mm2 of useless silicon crystals with circuits that do nothing to vibe with audiophiles
>>108886790
>>108893462that's what USB audio interfaces and/or usb DACs/amp combos are for
>>108891270>If you have a spare HDMI port you can use HDMI audio with a respective decoder that supports HDMI audio inputThere are NO good and cheap HDMI DACs
>>1088925750
>>108893427>>108893441So people are arguing against USB DACAmps and then buy USB DACAmps integrated on a PCIe adapter?
>>108886519pc audio regressed when windows vista nerfed the drivers capabilities and removed direct hardware access. EAX was fantastic.
It just feels so good anons.Shame sound blaster hardware is known for blowing up and its driver support was always short and shitty.Still look at those front ports tho.
Their older cards aren't USB contraptions. Get a Xfi PCIe.
>>108886385>What is the use case for discrete sound cards in the year of our lord 2026?Seems like something LGR would cream over
>>108893462>Why are people making fun of thisBecause the USB to PCIe bridge makes it the audio equivalent of pic related.
>>108893806I could see the appeal of a USB audio interface that integrates to your PC case. There is no need for USB to PCIe translation though. Maybe back in the day when USB ports supplied 5V1A and PCIe had at least 25W.
>>108886981Depends on the receiver. Some of the high end models have hardware upgrades.
>>108893822Unpopular opinion but gaining WASAPI for music and losing EAX for gaming was an okay tradeoff.
>>108886385>soundcard>will hiss like shit>ground loop buzzing>whine that change with gpu and cpu activity, moving the mouse etc>will have asus xonar banshee scream if you use it at anything but 44.1 or 48khzboughting a sound card when you can use a xmos powered toslink usb interface and power any dac with dc input off of a powerbank achieving galvanic immunity + near perfectly noiseless electricity in 2026 is stupid
>>108886811Why would you do that? The only way to get atmos out of it is via hdmi which isn't going to work, optical just gets you normal surround.
>>108893872Hell yeah I remember having the front panel port old school sound blaster way back in the day, fuck it was cool.During covid I rebuild my computer and I actually bought one of the new sound blaster cards, didn't have the front panel but had a breakout box volume knob thing. All the reviews said don't buy it, the company sucked, etc... but I bought it anyways. The reviews were right, the drivers are trash and the hardware was even worse, half the time it wouldn't even detect on the motherboard. What a fucking waste of money.
